Hellworms
Crowd Repellent
(1998) Alternative Tentacles

Yet another band I saw live before hearing them (or their earlier incarnations) on my stereo. For those of you who don't know, Hellworms (with minor membership changes) used to be known called Saturn's Flea Collar, who used to be known as Victims Family. All three bands have releases on the Alternative Tentacles label. I like Crowd Repellent a great deal. "Zillionaire" has anthemic potential with its mantra 'No matter what you do / You're always working for the Man'. I am struck.. and rocked heavily.. by "Little Grass Shack by the River" a celebration of the loaner in all of us. The politician-as-snake-oil-salesman "Baby Kisser" is alternately jazzy and full-on punk rock. Other stand out tracks: "Cock Rock Superstar" - "What's Your Excuse?" and "Master Manipulator". For those of you who really grooved on the lyrical skill of Dead Kennedys era Biafra... Hellworms' Ralph Spight has been effectively telling it like it is since about the time Jello stopped working with a regular band. But the real strength of the Hellworms is how tight they are musically. Guitarist Spight and bassist Larry Boothroyd have been playing together since the early '80s and seem to read each other's minds. Drummer Joaquin Spengemann is the new element in this musical chemistry (he wasn't part of SFC or Victims Family), but he plays with these two as if he's been doing it most his life. What the listener gets is a power trio as inspired and tight as NoMeansNo coupled with a humorous-when-it-needs-to-be political insight that has been largely missing from music since the demise of Dead Kennedys. Great work! Highly recommended.

–Mattro

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